by Darlene Michaud

Created on: July 06, 2010

Homemade bathtub crayons are easy to make and fun to use. Your kids can use homemade bathtub crayons to draw on the side of the tub during bath time, or on tile walls and tile floors. The crayons are made from Ivory soap, so they can also be used as soap during bath time.

To make homemade bathtub crayons, you will need some bars of white Ivory soap, warm water, food coloring, and plastic cookie cutters. If you do not have plastic cookie cutters, you can use a plastic ice cube tray or any

small plastic containers.

Grate some Ivory soap on a food grater. Grate enough so you have 1 cup of soap. In a small bowl, mix the cup of grated Ivory soap with 1/4 cup of warm water and a few drops of the food color of your choice. Stir until the mixture begins to stiffen.

Remove the stiffened mixture from the bowl and knead it until it is the consistency of very thick dough. Then spoon the mixture into your cookie cutters or molds. Place the molds in the freezer for 10 minutes. Then remove from the freezer, pop the crayons out of the molds, and let them air dry overnight or until hard.

The bathtub crayons are now ready to use! Let your kids draw to their heart's content while they are taking a bath. They can also draw in the tub even if it's not bath time. Just let them draw on the dry tub and leave their creations there until they are washed away next time someone takes a shower.

Homemade bathtub crayons make a great gift to give to any child. They also make nice party favors to give to little guests during any party. You can make them any color you want, so you can match any holiday theme. Make red and green bathtub crayons for Christmas, red, white and blue for the 4th of July, or orange and black for Halloween (you can get black food coloring in a craft store in the cake making aisle). Any child will be thrilled to get these fun bathtub crayons as a party favor. They make great stocking stuffers too!

And remember, these crayons can also be used as soap. So if you don't know anyone who needs bathtub crayons, just make little decorative hand soaps instead. Decorative soaps also make nice gifts for both children and adults.

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